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No Habla Español

Hillary Rodham Clinton at Hartnell College in Salinas, Calif., where she picked up the endorsement of the United Farm Workers union. (Photo: Todd Heisler/The New York Times)

SALINAS, Calif. – Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton does not usually speak in Spanish as she makes overtures to Hispanic voters, and now we have evidence of why.

Speaking Tuesday afternoon before a predominantly Hispanic audience of more than 2,000 people here, where she accepted the endorsement of Cesar Chavez’s United Farm Workers union, Mrs. Clinton repeatedly heard the crowd chant “Si se puede” – a signature political phrase at Hispanic rallies that translates to “Yes, It Can Be Done!”
Politicians usually join in, but Mrs. Clinton refrained from doing so on one, two, and then three occasions; she simply nodded and smiled and said nothing.

Finally, as the crowd began shouting the phrase again, Mrs. Clinton bellowed into her microphone, “Si se pueda is right!”

Several colleagues who speak better Spanish than I do say that “pueda” (as opposed to “puede”) has meaning in other contexts, but it does not really make sense in this one. In any event, the crowd was chanting “si se puede.” The audience made no noticeable fuss over Mrs. Clinton’s use of “pueda,” although they stopped chanting sooner afterward.

Mrs. Clinton won strong support from Hispanics in the Nevada caucuses last Saturday and she is counting on their votes in the California and New York primaries, among others, on Feb. 5, as she competes against Senator Barack Obama and his considerable support among African-Americans.

Mrs. Clinton also did not veer from her stump speech to suit this afternoon’s audience; discussing immigration reform, she said that the first priority was toughening border security, which drew only scattered applause. Otherwise, the audience received her enthusiastically.

So now everyone is afraid of John McCain? The same man who has repeatedly (and recently) said that he doesn’t understand Economics? In a time we America is facing an economic recession? Come On! Hillary would take that election, and she wouldn’t even have to come up with a new campaign slogan. She could just use Bill’s old one:

This is wonderful news for Hillary Clinton. Her message is resonating with the people. Why? Because she cares. She understands what so many people in this country face and wants to make a positive difference in their lives. People are finding that Hillary is the candidate with the substance to get the job done.

Hillary is such an inspiration, so full of hope and ideals and the talent to move the country forward for everyone. Hillary is a leader who will move this nation forward. That is why the United Farm Workers endorsed her. They were looking for a candidate with true leadership abilities, and they found that in Hillary.

thanks for translating “sí se puede” correctly. when this chant was being used during the immigration marches last year, the press consistently mistranslated it as “yes we can.” there was outrage on the right regarding “the nerve of people who aren’t citizens” coming out in public chanting “yes WE can,” which ultimately sounds confrontational. the point wasn’t that illegal immigrants are claiming the rights of citizens and their saying “yes we can” but rather mobilizing around the idea that a solution to the illegal immigration situation can be found (se puede lograr una reforma justa a la situación, or, a just reform to the situation can be achieved).

More on United Farm Workers and why they endorsed her, less on her language abilities? Some people are bad at languages, and 60 isn’t a good time to learn a new one. She gave it a try. (I’m not a Clinton supporter, but this just isn’t a ghost of an issue.)

There was never a doubt about the Senator Clinton’s commitments to Hispanic people and a sympathetic and humane treatment of immigration problems in this nation. Good to see the major union endorsing her instead of the candidate with the middle-name-that-cannot-be-mentioned.

California? Obama will bury her in S.C. The delegates keep adding up, and Clinton hasn’t been able to make up her deficit even in the states she DOES win.

— Posted by Will

It seems the Clinton campaign knows that too and are not exerting too much in South Carolina. They’re leaving that state to Obama. Their only goal is to finish a strong second. The Nevada results are good news enough for them as they head to states like California and New York. They probably hope the Latino voters there will vote the same way.

Hillary is such an inspiration, so full of hope and ideals and the talent to move the country forward for everyone. Hillary is a leader who will move this nation forward. That is why the United Farm Workers endorsed her. They were looking for a candidate with true leadership abilities, and they found that in Hillary.
— Posted by Debra Garson

That’s a joke right: “an inspiration, so full of hope and ideals” doesn’t refer to Hillary in this campaign; no one even not paying attention thinks that. By the way, Dolores Huerta, a co-founder of the UFW, had already endorsed Hillary, so that she got their endorsement is just a coda to getting Huerta’s vote. We all know now that union members can vote any way they like; I assume that works in CA as well as in NV.

Wow, I’d been waiting for a post on the United Farm Workers union endorsement! Thank you! The puede/pueda mistake is not newsworthy in my opinion, but considering everytime anyone from a dog catcher to a 1st term Senator endorses Obama he gets the royal press treatment, I’ll take this small bit of good Clinton coverage.

No offense but do your “ideals” include spreading false emails about your opponents and planting questions in your audience? Browse the web. She’s done this. Don’t be surprised if this kind of dishonesty remains when she reaches the whitehouse.
That and more bad behavior with interns. I swear if anything, the Clintons are reminding me that no matter how bad a president Bush was, his family was SOOOO normal and so not evil.

Is this REALLY front page news? Come on NY Times. I was at that rally today and no one thought twice at her attempt to speak Spanish. The crowd was electrified. Over 5,000 people showed up to see Hillary and they probably packed over 3,000 people into the main auditorium. Frank, it’s not Obama’s campaign slogan. It’s the slogan of Cesar Chavez’s union, United Farm Workers–a huge endorsement for Hillary and a huge help for her California campaign.

Voting for Hillary Clinton is a vote for a woman who supported NAFTA, and now is against it because of its political unpopularity. Voting for Hillary is a vote for inconsistency and against the working class, because on issue after issue she has proven to be nothing more than a ruthless opportunist. Note the subtle racial overtones of the campaign. Note her attempt to marginalize Barack Obama as the “black” candidate and not just a Democratic candidate. Her dishonesty on nearly every issue is astonishing. Her ability to mislead women about Obama’s abortion record is a blight on the Democratic Party. A vote for Clinton is a vote for Bush politics.

“Yes, we can” is not an incorrect translation of “Sí se puede.” You’re right that it is not the literal translation, but the literal translation is dry and doesn’t convey the idea behind the sentiment, whereas “yes, we can” does so perfectly. Gerald Erichsen at about.com covered this well, if you want a longer explanation.

As to Hillary’s gaffe, well, it’s not her native language. As a Latino and native Spanish speaker, it doesn’t bother me at all. At least she tried. And it’s much better than the politicians who feel that speaking a few words of mangled Spanish is enough to win over the Hispanic vote. At least Hillary is honest on this one point.

California? Obama will bury her in S.C. The delegates keep adding up, and Clinton hasn’t been able to make up her deficit even in the states she DOES win.

— Posted by Will

It seems the Clinton campaign knows that too and are not exerting too much in South Carolina. They’re leaving that state to Obama. Their only goal is to finish a strong second. The Nevada results are good news enough for them as they head to states like California and New York. They probably hope the Latino voters there will vote the same way.

— Posted by mike (POST#10)

From what I have read, Hillary Clinton may already have the super delegates of NY and Cal. If she does, she will bury Obama. Obama has no chance, and the Republicans would bury him for sure. Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee, and she knows how to handle Republicans.
After eight years of Bush 43, it is time to have a nominee who can win, and Hillary Clinton can.

The Republicans would have a field day with Obama’s admiration for Ronald Reagan. For a Democrat to make such statements about Reagan was stupid. Just what was he thinking or was he thinking at all? That is the question.

Que Pasa? This pandering to Hispanic farm workers begs the question, “Who is going to ensure that the 12-20 million Illegal Aliens in this country are prevented from voting?” Should we just trust Bill and Hill that everything will be on the up and up? Since no one has ever convincingly connected the words “trust” and “Clinton” in the same sentence, we should be concerned about the very real possibility of wholesale election fraud.

This is a huge story NYTimes: Bill and Hill and the DNC are planning the biggest election fraud in history. I hope we have countermeasures in place. A Billary nomination will destroy the Democratic Party, but a Billary election could destroy the country.

Think it won’t happen? We saw in the Nevada Caucus, that Bill was running around the Casinos trying to disrupt the Obama supporters in the Culinary Union. We saw Clinton Operatives turning away voters who hadn’t signed in by 11:30, when Nevada law clearly stated the cutoff time as Noon. While we’re at it, NYTimes, let’s be clear about the results of the Nevada Caucus: the straw poll was only for the Press, what was important is who picked up the most delegates. And the winner was — Obama!

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